STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Missouri Tigers wrapped up the women’s basketball regular season Sunday with a 90-75 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference contest.
It was the 11th straight loss for Missouri, which ends the regular season at 11-18 overall and 2-14 in the conference.
Hayley Frank finished with 18 points to lead Missouri. Frank eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for her career in the game, the fourth Missouri player to reach that milestone. Sophie Cunningham is the all-time leader for the program with 2,187 points, followed by Joni Davis (2,126) and Renee Kelly (2,119). Frank has scored 2,1010 points in her five-year Missouri career.
It was a back-and-forth first quarter, with a late jumper by Ashton Judd giving Missouri a 25-23 lead. The game continued to be close throughout the second quarter, with the Tigers taking a 40-39 advantage into intermission.
Missouri opened the second half with a 6-2 spurt, with a layup by a Hannah Linthacum giving Missouri a 46-41 advantage less than two minutes into the third quarter.
A pair of free throws by Mama Dembele with 6:28 remaining in the quarter increased Missouri’s lead to 51-46. Mississippi State then took the lead for good with a 13-2 run in the next three-plus minutes. The Lady Bulldogs took a 67-55 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers cut the deficit to six at 67-61 with a 6-0 run to start the third quarter. But a 7-2 spurt by the Bulldogs got their lead back to double digits at 74-63 with a little less than six minutes remaining.
Mississippi State led by as many as 18 points in the final minute.
Jerkaila Jordan and Darrione Rogers totaled 22 points each to lead Mississippi State. Jordan had 18 points in the third quarter to tie the program mark for most points in a quarter. Rogers was 6-of-8 on 3-pointers as Mississippi State finished 11-of-20 from beyond the arc. Lauren Park-Lane chipped in with 18 points for the Bulldogs (21-10, 8-8), which snapped a five-game losing streak.
Judd totaled 17 points for the Tigers, while Dembele finished with 16 points and seven assists. Grace Slaughter chipped in with 10 points for Missouri.
Missouri, the 14th seed, will take on 11th-seeded Florida (14-14, 5-11) to open the SEC Tournament.
Game time is 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Greenville, S.C.
Mississippi State is the No. 8 seed in the tournament and will face No. 9 Texas A&M in the second round at 11 a.m. Thursday.